Cyber-attacks are sophisticated security intrusions that cost organizations $4 billion dollars per year. Because of the growing risk of cyber threats, Microsoft has outlined the anatomy of how a cyber breach occurs and the different response options available to regain control of a compromised system in an interactive infographic.

Using research from leading IT security experts, the anatomy of a data breach demonstrates that all it takes is a small lapse in cyber security to open up your network to a series of devastating attacks.

Modern IT infrastructure requires a robust suite of security solutions that can detect threats and provide managers with appropriate response options. Understanding the anatomy of a breach can help you understand which Microsoft security products can keep your data safe.

Interlink has seen the challenges with cloud security and the solutions, and we can help keep your identities and data safe.

Recently Microsoft announced their new Secure Productive Enterprise offering. This offering combines Office 365 with either the E3 or E5 packages, with the Enterprise Mobility + Security Suite, and Windows Desktop OS.

Microsoft has just launched special pricing through March of 2017! See below.

Contact us today to talk about how to take advantage of this offer with Microsoft!

and the outcome is looking promising for both dedicated Slack and Microsoft users.

With Slack recently announcing the addition of video and voice chat to its team messaging and content management platform, Microsoft appears to already have put in motion the development of a new messaging application, Skype Teams.

Microsoft plans to use the existing features of Skype for Business to provide additional value for large and small teams, newsrooms, and other organizations that need the ability to communicate efficiently and share files. Migrating Slack users will be able to harness the existing powerful features of Skype along with the new channel messaging functionality Skype Teams will offer.

However, the real value added by Skype Teams is how Microsoft plans to build on top of the existing Skype platform. One of the coolest new potential features is the addition of Threaded Conversations. With the simple click of a “reply” button, Skype Teams users will be able to respond to a conversation. Slack currently does not offer this to its user base.

Users will also be able to start voice and video chats within shared and private channels.

In May, Microsoft released an overhauled, mobile-friendly version of its existing content and document management platform, SharePoint. Microsoft SharePoint offers individuals, teams, and organizations the same content management tools as Slack.

Though Microsoft has not officially announced Skype Teams as part of its Microsoft Office services suite, if rumors are true, the additions to the already widely used Skype will be welcomed by those seeking a more functional group communications platform.

Skype Teams is shaping up to be a messaging app that makes content management and organizational collaboration a more efficient process than competitors offer. And as always, expect seamless integration with other Microsoft Office apps.

Want to learn more?

We can help you figure out which collaboration tools you should use when! We may also have more information that we can share, but only if you have a Microsoft Non-disclosure Agreement in place.

On-Demand Webinar & Slides

While moving to the cloud has increased flexibility for employees and reduced IT cost, it has also raised new security concerns for many organizations.

To realize the full benefit of cloud applications, IT teams must find the right balance of enabling access while maintaining control to protect critical data.

In this on-demand event, Microsoft and Microsoft Cloud Consumption Partner of the Year, Interlink Cloud Advisors show you how an organization can take full advantage of the cloud while maintaining control, security and improved visibility into activity with Advanced Security Management and Advanced eDiscovery.

Through demos and successful customer deployment scenarios, we’ll help you understand the new security and compliance functionality available in Office 365 and show you can achieve:

Improved Security and Compliance: Protect and control access to your data

I’ve said for a while that if you haven’t invested in a corporate-managed external file sharing software like Box, Dropbox or OneDrive, then I guarantee at least some of your users have gone rogue and done it themselves. For a long time, corporate users have been frustrated with email attachments that are blocked and aging and unreliable ftp servers. As a result, many have resorted to creating their own personal Dropbox accounts. These personal accounts may be connected to personal email addresses or even a corporate email address. These personal Dropbox accounts are being used to transfer the corporate documents you are responsible for protecting. This is commonly encouraged by vendors and so your end users see it as harmless. Everyone does it. It’s possible that even the IT department isn’t overly concerned about it – I haven’t seen many IT departments drop everything to fix the problem. Before I explain my concern…let me start with a story.

As a member of IT leadership, you get a phone call from Dropbox. They inform you that 100 users in your organization have Dropbox accounts that they created on their own, using their corporate email. So – aren’t you interested in an Enterprise account so you can manage them? First, this may come as a shock – 100 users! You ask – can I find out who those users are? No, they won’t provide that information, you don’t own it. You look into the cost and it’s more than you want to deal with, so you put it to the side to be addressed later.

In the meantime, Dropbox has a security breach. Those 100 users from your own organization now have shared content that can be compromised. This time, it’s only old passwords and Dropbox forced password resets for those that needed it. However, we’ve seen a lot of security breaches lately across a number of platforms and many of them have been on relevant and active information. Sure, you could always just have them go change their passwords when these things happen. In this case though, you don’t even know who to contact to make sure they do. And…what if that compromised password is on an account that links to their corporate email and it was the same one they used to log into your network with? They didn’t just hack Dropbox, your network is at risk. So, you don’t know who has an account, who used the same password for their corporate account, who hasn’t changed their password since the breach, or what content is at risk. This isn’t a good situation!

Fortunately, the answer may be easier than you think. For many, OneDrive for Business is already part of your licensing agreement. It’s an easy roll-out and one of the easiest components of Office 365 to train users on. For those concerned about not being ready for the cloud, you can still support your on-premises SharePoint 2013 or 2016 servers and configure a redirect to OneDrive for Business instead of using My Sites. Easy! No more excuses.

Contact Interlink to learn more about OneDrive and how it keeps your documents secure.

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